Windmill attachment.



T. A. LIBKE.

WINDMILL ATTACHMENT.

h APPLICATION FILED NQV. 25 I9I3. T 18 51 Patented Apr.13,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

avwauto o THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOm-LITHQ. WASHINGTON, D. 0.1

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THEODORE A. LIBKE, OF WILTON, WISCONSIN.

WINDMILL ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1215..

Application filed November 25, 1913. Serial No. 802,961.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Tnnooonn A. LIBKE, citizen of the United States,residing at Wilton, in the county of Monroe and State of Wisconsin, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Vindmill Attachments, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices whereby a reciprocating motion may betransformed into a rotary motion and with means whereby the intermittentmovements of a reciproeating device may be transformed into a continuousor uninterrupted rotary move ment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device including meanswhereby intermittent rotary motion is transformed into continuous rotarymotion.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a device including arotative member adapted to be intermittently actuated, as by theoperating rod of a windmill, a continuously rotated device, and with ayieldable means between the intermittently operated device and thecontinuously rotated device and arranged to store up a certain amount ofenergy which is transmitted to the continuously rotated device in theintervals between the intermittent movements of the rotative device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice of improved construction whereby the above noted results areaccomplished.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims.

The improved device may be employed in connection with any of thevarious forms of intermittently or irregularly actuated mechanism suchas windmills, some forms of gas engines, and the like, but is moreparticularly designed for use in connection with a windmill wherein areciprocating rod is employed to transmit the motion from the windmillto the mechanism to be actuated, and for the purpose of illustration thedevice is shown arranged for use in connection with a reciprocating rodof a windmill, and in the drawings thus employed: Figure 1 is a planview of the improved device. Fig. 2 is an elevation on the line 2-2 ofFig. 1. Fig 3 is a detail in section on the line 3-3 of big. 1. Fig.4ris a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

The improved device includes a suitable supporting frame which may be ofany required size and of any suitable material and includes end members10-1l spaced apart and connected by longitudinal brace members 12. Amain driving shaft 13 is mounted for rotation upon the members 10--11 asby boxes or bearings 14L15, and a supporting member 16 is likewisesupported by the members 1011 and spaced from the shaft 13, the member16 being preferably supported rigidly upon the members 10-11.

Mounted for rotation upon the shaft 13 and spaced from the frame member11 is a gear wheel 17, and mounted for rotation upon the supportingmember 16 is a pinion 18 with which the gear 17 engages continuously.The pinion 18 is formed with a sleeve 19 preferably integral therewith,and associated with the sleeve 19 is a drum 20, the latter beingpreferably integral with the sleeve. By this means the pinion 18 thesleeve 19 and the drum 20 rotate together upon the member 16. Engagingaround the shaft 13 between the gear 17 and the frame member 11 is aspacing sleeve 21, while a similar spacing sleeve 22 surrounds themember 16 between the pinion 18 and the frame member 11. By this meansthe gear and the pinion 18 are maintained in position relative to theframe member 11, as hereafter more fully explained.

Extending from the sleeve 21 is an arm 23 having a pawl 2st pivoted at25 thereto and adapted to engage with the teeth of the gear 17 one at atime. The pawl is provided with a depending weighted portion 26 whichoperates to maintain the pawl yieldably in engagement with the teeth ofthe wheel 17. The arm 23 extends beyond the pivot 25, and an operatingmember, such as the reciprocating rod of a windmill and indicated at 27,is pivoted at 28 to the outer end of the arm 23. By this means as themember 27 is intermittently moved upwardly and downwardly by the actionof the wind-wheel, the arm 23 and its pawl 2 1 transmits this movementintermittently to the wheel 17 and thence to the pinion 18 and its drum20. Extending from the spacing collar 22 is a backing pawl 29 whichengages with the teeth of the wheel 17 one at a time and preventsretrograde movement of the members 1718 during the return strokes of themember 27.

Mounted for rotation upon the supporting member 16 is a gear Wheel 30,while a pinion 31 is keyed or otherwise secured rigidly to the shaft 13and engages with the gear 30. Projecting inwardly from the bod of theear wheel 30 are a plurality of supporting devices 32, the latter beingspaced at equal distances from the center of the member 16, asrepresented in Fig. 3. A relativelv heavy coil spring, indicated as awhole at 33, surrounds the member 16 with a plurality of its coils atone end bearing around the drum 20 with one terminal of the springdirected through a suitable aperture in the drum 20, as represented at34:, While the opposite terminal of the spring extends through anaperture in the body of the gear 30, as represented at 35. The periphcryof the drum 20 corresponds to the interior of the spring 33, while thesupporting members 32 likewise correspond to and bear against theinterior of a plurality of the coils adjacent to the terminal 35, asrepresented in Fig. 1. By this means the spring is firmly supported atboth ends and prevented from lateral displacement when strain is appliedthereto as hereafter explained.

Surrounding the shaft 13 between the hub of the gear 17 and the hub ofthe pinion 31 is a spacing sleeve 36, the sleeve 36 thus coacting withthe collar 21 to maintain the gear 17 in position upon the shaft 13while at the same time permitting the gear to freely rotate upon theshaft. The pinion 18, it will be noted, is of greater thickness than thethickness of the gear 17 and bears against the collar 22, but is free tomove in the opposite direction, consequently when strainiis appliedtothe spring, the latter is free to move slightly endwise of the member16, and the pinion 18 by its extra thickness will not be withdrawn fromengagement with the teeth of the member 17 by any such movement of thespring and the drum 20 attached thereto. By this arrangement it isunnecessary to rigidly couple the drum 20 and the pinion 18 frommovement endwise in an inward member 16, while at the ing sleeve 22effectually limits the outward movement of the pinion. By thisarrangement of the collars 2122 and sleeve 36 a certain degree, oflooseness is permitted between the parts, while at the same time theyare held constantly in coactive and operative same time thespacposition.

A fly-wheel 37 is mounted rigidly upon the shaft 13, and if preferred, aband wheel 38 may be likewise connected to the shaft 13. The fly-wheelprovides the necessary direction upon the momentum to the shaft whenrotated, while the band wheel provides for transmitting the motion tomachinery of any kind. By this arrangement the spring absorbs a certaindegree of the energy of the reciprocating mechanism and transmits it tothe driving shaft and its attachment continuously, the absorbed energyof the spring being utilized to continue the motion of the driving shaftduring the return strokes of the intermittent device, and thuscontinuously maintain the motion of the shaft. The fiy-wheel is animportant element in the arrangement, as the momentum of the flywheelkeeps up the continuous motion and equalizes the same. The spring may beof any required power and increased or decreased in strength tocorrespond to the machinery with which it is associated.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an apparatus of the class described, a supporting frame includingmembers spaced apart, a supporting member carried by said frame members,a shaft mounted for rotation relative to said frame members, a pinionfast upon said shaft and hearing by its hub against the adjacent framememher, a gear loose upon said supporting member and engaging the pinionof the shaft and bearing by its hub against the adjacent frame member, agear loose upon said shaft, another pinion loose upon said supportingmember and engaging the gear of said shaft, a spring connected at itsends respectively relative to the gear and pinion of said supportingmember, a spacing sleeve upon said shaft between the pinion and gearthereof, a spacing sleeve upon said shaft between the gear thereof andthe adjacent frame memher and thereby maintaining the gear of the shaftin position, an arm extending from said last-mentioned spacing sleeve, apawl carried by said arm and engaging the teeth of the gear of theshaft, means for applying reciprocal movement to said arm, anotherspacing sleeve between the pinion of the supporting member and theadjacent frame member, and an arm extending from said last-mentionedspacing sleeve and carrying a backing pawl which engages the teeth ofthe shaft gear.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a supporting frame, asupporting member carried by said frame, a shaft mounted for rotationrelative to said supporting member, a pinion fast upon said shaft, agear loose upon said supporting member and engaging the pinion of theshaft, a gear loose upon said shaft, another pinion loose upon saidsupporting member and engaging the gear of said shaft, a springoperatively connected to the gear and pinion of said supporting member,a spacing sleeve upon said shaft between the pinion of the shaft and thegear of the shaft, another spacing sleeve upon said shaft and engagingagainst the gear, an operating arm carried by said last mentionedspacing sleeve, a pawl carried by said operating arm and engaging theteeth of the gear of the shaft, another spacing sleeve between thepinion of'the supporting member and the adjacent frame member, and anarm extending from said last mentioned spacing sleeve and carrying a'back- 10 ing pawl Which engages the teeth of the shaft gear.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

THEODORE A. LIBKE. [1,. s.] Witnesses:

R. F. BERRURIER, C. S. VVILDER.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

